The Card And The Cookies
by TheOneAndOnlyTroubadour
Summary: Based on the Jokers Asylum Harley Quinn comic where Harley breaks out of the asylum. What if instead of chasing Harley with the guards as she made her escape, Jeremiah Arkham went to her cell.


Doctor Jeremiah Arkham strode through the corridors of the asylum in a hurry. Around him were guards chasing the escaping Harley Quinn. Despite her run of good behaviour, Jeremiah thought it likely that she would succeed in escaping as was often the case with the more prolific inmates. In light of this, he reasoned that it was unlikely that she would tell him why she was making her escape now. Although he could confront her directly, he had noticed on the video feed that she had left something in her cell so he chose to investigate that instead.

He eyed the open door to her cell. It wasn't broken as he imagined that might have been the case. He walked into the cell mildly indignant to the cell that once again an inmate was escaping. Harley wasn't any ordinary inmate, she used to be a psychiatrist in the asylum herself. He rhetorically wondered to himself where it went wrong for her. He chose not to indulge that thought as he already knew the answer to that question and instead looked at the contents of the cell.

She had caused no damage to the cell itself, the walls looked as good as they had the last time she had arrived and the floor was flawless. His attention was drawn to the wooden table that the staff had allowed her to keep in her cell. He sat down on the basic wooden chair next to it, ready to read the card on the table. The card itself was basic, inmates were almost never allowed creative materials. He gave no mind to the exterior of the card since he was more interested in what she had written. He opened the card and read the contents in silence.

He sighed in disappointment on reading that she had broken out just to pursue the Joker on Valentines Day. It reminded him of her wasted potential and she had good potential. Even now with...….. but she has broken out and now they won't release her in the under 3 weeks that it would have been when she could have walked out. His gaze met the baking tray on the table. There were half a dozen plain cookies within it. Although it was obvious that they had cooled down, he surmised that they must have been recently cooked. It was an open invitation to try one but he knew in his professional judgement not to try one. How did she gain access to the kitchen to make these? Kitchen access is restricted to staff only for many reasons. Food shouldn't be given except by staff. Despite this, it made him think of her cheerful personality and how she cheered up what was otherwise a dreary asylum.

He thought back to those years ago when he first hired her. She was new to the profession and a fine graduate by all accounts. She interviewed as a bright and cheery person grounded by a professional interest in psychology. Of course he hadn't expected such a cheerful disposition to last while she worked on the dangerous lunatics. Even in his wildest dreams he hadn't imagined that she would fall in love with one of them. Yet there he was sitting in the cell that she escaped from just to be with the Joker on this day. Why did Joker deserve all the cheer anyhow? What did she see in him? She was well respected in the asylum even as an inmate.

He eyed the cookies again, a strange curiosity building within him. She had great potential there if only she hadn't chosen to break the Joker out of his cell that one April fools day. Another day, another breakout, when would this ever end? He wistfully took a bite out of the cookie as he wondered how long it would take for the guards to catch her, if they did catch her at all. Once he had chewed on the cookie enough he started to frown. As well intentioned as that gesture was, she is one lousy cook. Jeremiah vowed never to try her cooking again then he wondered why he so absent mindedly tried the cookie in the first place. This kind of thing was against the rules. She could have poisoned the cookies. No, she wouldn't have done that, she had behaved so well these last few months that the idea that she would poison the foodstuff was almost unthinkable.

_Almost_ unthinkable, but he had to follow the rules himself and consider the possiblity. He couldn't tell her that she was a lousy cook, could he? It probably wasn't necessary to mention that when trying to help her overcome her obsession with the Joker. Of course current events showed that there was no sign of that going anywhere anytime soon. Why didn't he see this coming? He should have known that she would run to the Joker at the first chance she could get, it's as obvious as the sky is blue. He put the bitten cookie down, disgusted with the taste of it yet mildly sweet at the sentiment. Why did she think to make cookies anyway? Did it matter? It might be a nice appeal to someone with no knowledge of psychology but she couldn't reach his ego, not this way. In the name of professionalism, not at all ever. She made them anyway. It was probably just her way of saying sorry and no cause for alarm.

He stood up as he was starting to feel out of place in this lunatics cell. This lunatic who was sentimental enough to leave a card and cookies when breaking out. This lunatic who was once a member of his staff. This lunatic who fell in love with an inmate and has run away to pursue him _again_. He quickly drew in a breath and proceeded to leave the cell. There was no reason to stay here a moment longer. He had read the card and seen the cookies. He had found out all he could about her motives from this cell. It was no time to be sentimental. This was the time for professionalism. Had he been sentimental? No, he wouldn't look at the inmates that way. A certain amount of compassion was part of the job in his view. Perhaps if the inmates see compassion, they will follow in that example and for once, one of them appears to have done so. It isn't enough though, not for a professional. If nobody follows compassion then they must be mad, so how did he explain Harley? Her madness is different, seemingly based in compassion but likely more complex than that alone.

He left the cell with his next thought on progress of her recapture. If one thing was evident, it was that she needed more treatment.


End file.
